Have not you ever wondered: Who analyzes the Analysts? Are analysts really independent? Should we rely on their forecast and predictions? Which analyst reports is more accurate ? Do they follow their own recommendations? Why does an Analyst change his judgment when changing companies?

I’ve been evangelizing the Internet of Things (IoT) for many years. During all this time, I have been using pictures and infographics from many analyst, reading their reports, reviewing their predictions, sharing ideas in events and working with some of them as independent expert consultant. At last this summer, I decide to write an article divided in 2 parts to help put some order in this group of such influential professionals.

In this first part I will classify the different types of analysts who are involved in one way or another in the IoT.

In the second part I will address the special case of analysts specializing in IoT Platforms.

I have created 4 categories of IoT Analysts and then I ranked them following a few criteria: technology; industry; reputation; coverage(portfolio of Services); geographies, number of IoT analyst, followers in social network, Foundationdate, frequency of outcomes, customers.

The Powerful Analysts’ Firms

Considering the importance and influence of these analyst and for the good to the health of the IoT market, the questions of conflict of interest and implicit bias deserve be clarified.

Nowadays, the shadow of doubt continues flying over the reports and recommendations that these prestigious and powerful firms like McKinsey, Gartner, IDC, Forrester, BCG, HBR continue to publish.

These multinational companies count with great analysts and influencers and with the machinery for boost the technology trends.

The IoT has not escaped their claws. Given the ignorance and doubts of a market that is no longer so new and innovative, these powerful firms get easily new contracts from their captive customers like they have been doing in the last 40 years.

CIOs believe their analysis and predictions closely.

The outcomes of these firms do not vary too much. Similar content, different format, minor differences to make their respective customers feel comfortable and not create controversy. It is not what we all want, the satisfaction of our customers?.

Its power and influence are so great that they should be regulated like other industries. An ethical code should be demanded.

They are in a privileged position working on both sides of the table, with sellers and buyers of technology. They know first-hand the market but also lose the independence of their analysis and conform their criteria and recommendations based on what their customers expect to receive by what they have paid.

Recommendation – Simply you cannot live without them. Use your own business intelligence or an independent analyst to filter their results and accept that even if they make mistakes, you must continue counting on them.

The Opportunistic Intruders Firms

They are also large firms, less powerful and influential but with great knowledge of some industries and less of technology.

They come from adjoining specialties, they also want to get on the IoT wagon and take advantage of the IoT moment in order their clients could see them on the crest of the new technology wave.

They use the general outcomes of the Prestigious and Mighty Analysts’ Firms as a guide to customize their reports and analysis to help their clients achieve transformational growth driven by the new disruptive technologies, mega trends, and new business models.

Recommendation – I find their IoT reports, webinars and consultancy projects useful from a vertical or subject matter knowledge point of view. If you want to sell to non IT you will need these guys.

The Specialist Firms

Many of them started with the M2M market and have evolved to the IoT in a gradual way, without losing its essence, at least before being bought (We miss you, Machina Research, it’s not the same since you were acquired by Gartner).

Companies of few employees like ABI Research, Berg Insight, Beecham Research, Harbor Research, VDC Research . Usually have a mix of senior and junior analysts and specialize in some technologies or industries. Their market reports forecast provide the basis for many business plans and an excellent source to get an updated list of the main vendors and market share of specific topics.

There are many other specialist firms with focus on technology (Security, Wearables, Cloud, Platforms, AI,..) , or industry (Smart Home, Industrial Internet, Security,…) but out of the scope of this post.

Other firms are aggregators of content specialist that deliver excellent pictures and infographics to be share in social networks.

Recommendation – With the entry of the Powerful their survival has been put at risk. They must grow, change the business model (not just subscription-based) and specialize if they want to continue to bring value to their customers. They are not at risk of being bought because their owners / partners do not want to be swallowed up by the bureaucracy of the Mighty Ones.

The Lone Star’s Firms

I include in this category freelances or companies with less than 10 employees like IoT Analytics, MachNation, Compass Intelligence. Some of them maybe were fired or they resigned to work in the Prestigious and Mighty Analysts’ Firms or they split from a specialist firm. After agreed departure have decided to continue their work, now without the machinery and support of their past employers.

Although in principle they try to sell their work to their former customers and use their reputation to get new ones, either by clause of their termination contract or by inaccessibility as a freelance, they should look for startups or niches where still there is not competence.

Their knowledge about specific domains of IoT, the local market and the use at least at the beginning of the assets of their old companies, makes their criteria and their work are appreciated.

Over time if they have not managed to specialize they will disappear, but if they take advantage of the hype and offer a few valuable services can earn a reputation that will work well for their survival (acquisition).

Their participation as speakers or event moderators and their free publications allow them to sell small projects, customized reports and hire junior analyst to escalate and maybe be acquired.

Recommendation – The good ones will stay, the bad ones will disappear quickly. By not having access to large clients, their recommendations are realistic and valuable because will be based on their work with small companies that are closest to the earth and see the today market and not the day after tomorrow. It is an excellent way to know the reality of the current IoT market.

Key Takeaway:

It is very likely that many analysts will be replaced by Robots in a few years. Estimates, forecasts and predictions will be made by Machine Learning algorithms. But, until that day comes, we will see their pictures and infographics published and shared in social networks and internet media influencing our decisions.

Both powerful analyst firms, as well as specialist firms with their recommendations, predictions, company/products rankings are ideal for their clients. They are a low-cost marketing channel with great resonance and value. However, not all of us can afford to buy its expensive reports, nor to hire senior analyst,

Lone Starts are using social networks to claim and resonate. Not sure how long they can compete. They are in some way democratizing the analysis of IoT. Their influence will grow in the coming years but they run the risk of being acquired or disappear if not resist the move of their analyst.

One thing is for sure, for this market to continue influence, all of them must provide shareable knowledge, value and a high degree of neutrality.

Is the Internet of Thing (IoT) in danger? In light of the latest events I have attended in Berlin and London and news like this “Intel To Amputate Three Modules For Internet Of Things, Including Joule“, I really believe IoT is falling into the Gartner´s Trough of Disillusionment phase and we need IoT heroes to push it faster towards the Plateau of Productivity phase.

The other part of the article’s title, “Save the World,” may sound pretentious, but the world need to be save. This year hot spring and summer is confirming even the most disbelieving that Global Warming is very real (Read more at ” Global Warming, Christmas and the Internet of Things” and in spite I do not consider that only IoT can save our blue planet, per recent events like “Portugal forest fire“, IoT can help and much.

The heroes of IoT have lost their past evangelizing enthusiasm. What IoT heroes need to do?

The IoT Industry heroes need to focus on Customer Value. It is important that IoT heroes address real pain points rather than creating something gimmicky.

IoT Heroes can not do it alone, partnership with other heroes are absolutely essential for success in the Internet of Things.

IoT heroes need to be more creative with new Use Cases. As sensors continue to decrease in cost and IoT-specific networks get rolled out, everybody expect the number of use cases to increase exponentially.

Raise awareness about the major concern, IoT Security

IoT heroes should follow the trends by pairing connectivity with AI/Blockchain/AR/VR heroes

How can IoT save us from world challenges?

Gary Atkinson, Director of Emerging Technologies at ARM, identifies five main challenges that the planet is heading towards:

We’re running out of agricultural land

Water is our rarest commodity

Energy needs to be cheaper to be efficient.

Healthcare is a growing problem

Transport – Everyone will be able to afford cars, but won’t be able to afford to pay for fuel.

Save IoT, Save Agricultural land

If we all expect that IoT Agricultural solutions will be cheap, will have a long-lasting battery (+10 years), and will emit signals at least 5 miles, the smart farming will be a reality and we will not have excuses to save agricultural land.

Some companies to follow: Sigfox, Eightless, Enlight, Libelium, On Farm, John Deere, Trimble, and Valley Irrigation.

Agri-Tech East is an independent, business-focussed cluster organisation, to improve the international competitiveness and sustainability of plant-based agriculture and horticulture.

World Agri-Tech is held annually in London and San Francisco and is acclaimed as the most international gathering of agribusiness leaders, VC investors and agri-tech innovators. The next summit will take place in London on October 17-18, 2017. Find the full details here.

The IoT could for instance make desalinisation coming to a cost-effectiveness point. India uses mostly a pivot irrigation system, which means 30% of land is lost and 50 to 60% of water is lost by evaporation. The switch to tape based irrigation could save 2/3 of the water used.

Back in 2014, HydroPoint Data Systems utilised the Internet of Things (IoT) to help with water conservation efforts. According to the company and its partners, this system saved local people some $137m in expenses and 15 billion gallons of water in the first year alone.

Save IoT, Make Energy renewable and cheaper

Smarter, more efficient energy consumption it’s been the dream of environmentalists for decades. Now, it’s possible through the power of Internet of Things devices. Because of their connection capabilities, energy consumption such as the power in a commercial building or even smart home can be constantly monitored and adjusted.

Energy consumption could be reduced thanks to a smarter consumption and the implementation of micro generation storage. Knowing that lightning is the second biggest consumer of energy (after motors), and that there are about 1 billion streetlights in the world, upgrading streetlights infrastructure would strongly impact the world consumption.

Experts said that thanks to the Internet of Things, we can move from about 13 percent aggregate energy efficiency to 40 percent in the next 25 to 30 years.

Creating a new connected economy powered by renewable energy will cause a temporary surge in productivity worldwide as grids are modernized and infrastructure is rolled out. Installing wind and solar is labor intensive, for example, so for two generations, people will have plenty of work to do.

Additional info:

IoT company SkyGrid which is based in Melbourne and Sydney, is developing a smart hot-water system in partnership with hot-water company Quantum Energy. The aim is to intelligently control when a building’s hot-water systems are switched on, so that energy isn’t wasted heating water when no one is around to use it – something that currently wastes as much as 50% of a system’s power.

EnLight works on streetlight efficiency

Freestyle has partnered with engineering firm PowerTec, on an intelligent energy grid for Kangaroo Island in South Australia. Sensors and controllers in the grid intelligently manage energy sources to sway energy consumption towards renewables without sacrificing the reliability of the supply.

Save IoT, Save Healthcare

Despite incredible improvements in health since 1950, there are still a number of challenges, which should have been easy to solve.

In a 2016 report by Deloitte we can read “Change is the new normal for the global health care sector. As providers, payers, governments, and other stakeholders strive to deliver effective, efficient, and equitable care, they do so in an ecosystem that is undergoing a dramatic and fundamental shift in business, clinical, and operating models. This shift is being fueled by aging and growing populations; the proliferation of chronic diseases; heightened focus on care quality and value; evolving financial and quality regulations; informed and empowered consumers; and innovative treatments and technologies — all of which are leading to rising costs and an increase in spending levels for care provision, infrastructure improvements, and technology innovations.”

The IoT has brought many exciting advances to healthcare, improving patient experiences, increasing the quality of care provided, as well as updating and streamlining healthcare operations. From digital assistants to ‘smart’ medicine bottles, a new wave of connected devices could help people live independently for longer.

According with Goldman Sachs, IoT functions would produce an estimated $32.4 billion in annual revenue (45% from remote patient monitoring, 37% from telehealth, and 18% from behavior modification). But Healthcare IoT not only increases revenue, IoT reduces this cost by offering a more cost-effective method of managing chronic illness. The $305 billion estimated savings is accounted for by a combination of chronic disease management and telehealth.

Save IoT, Save Transportation

I leave this topic for a special post in the coming months.

Key Takeaway: Save IoT and IoT will enable Save the World

As I have commented many times the IoT is a Journey. Those who have been more time in the race know that there are easier and other more difficult stages, but not for that reason we abandon the hardness of climbing one of them. If we have not yet achieved that the IoT has a unique definition, it is not surprising that the term could disappear for reasons of business marketing. Nor does it matter that technologies such as AI, VR / AR, Robots, Blockchain, join to IoT to solve world problems. We could call it “Unified Information Technology“. The World of 2017 has some immense problems but he challenges for the next 10, 20 50 years can only be overcome if we save the IoT, the Enabler to Save the World.

Thanks in advance for your Likes and Shares

Archivado en: Artificial Intelligence, Industrial Internet, Internet of Things, M2M, Robots, Smart Cities, Tecnologia Tagged: Internet of Things, IoT, smart cities]]>https://pacomaroto.wordpress.com/2017/07/02/save-iot-save-the-world/feed/0pacomarotoBring Your Own Cyber Human (BYOCH) – Part 1: Self-connected humanshttps://pacomaroto.wordpress.com/2017/05/04/bring-your-own-cyber-human-byoch-part-1-self-connected-humans/
https://pacomaroto.wordpress.com/2017/05/04/bring-your-own-cyber-human-byoch-part-1-self-connected-humans/#respondThu, 04 May 2017 11:59:16 +0000http://pacomaroto.wordpress.com/?p=602]]>Perhaps some of my readers and followers have ever played in their infancy the “Rock, Paper or Scissors” game. During each match, we simulated with our hands one of these three things, although in those years we could never think that any of it could connect to the Internet.

But far from conforming us just connecting things, some enlightened like Elon Musk do not dream of electric sheep, they dream building human-computer hybrids. Elon Musk’s Neuralink company goal is to explore technology that can make direct connections between a human brain and a computer. Mr. Musk floated the idea that humans will need a boost of computer-assisted artificial intelligence to remain competitive as our machines get smarter.

Facebook Engineer Asserts That Augmented Reality Will Replace Smartphones in 5 Years. Facebook’s uber-secretive Building 8 (B8). The division is currently working on a top-secret brain-computer interface (BCI) like Elon Musk’s Neuralink, but that BCI project isn’t the only “future tech” Facebook currently has in the works. According to Michael Abrash, chief scientist at Facebook-owned Oculus Research, super augmented reality (AR) glasses could replace smartphones as the everyday computing gadget in the next five years.

A little intimidated, right?

Everything started with Bring your Own Device (BYOD)

I was very sceptical about the promised benefits that IT Vendors sold us with the famous Bring You Own Device (BYOD). Many IT departments struggled to keep up with yearly technology changes, company employees increasingly wanted to use their own devices to access corporate data. It was part of a growing trend dubbed Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), which encompassed similar Bring Your Own Technology (BYOT), Bring Your Own Phone (BYOP) and Bring Your Own PC (BYOPC) initiatives. All of them evolved to empower workforces through the so-called ‘consumerisation of IT’.

But BYOD also had a darker side. On one hand for enterprises, it threatened IT security and put a company’s sensitive business systems at risk, and on the other threatened employee’s satisfaction and happiness.

Have any of you improved your work-life balance because you used your own device to continue working after you leave your office?. There are so many things that improve productivity and increase innovation, how enterprises can ensure that it was because you BYOD?

In my opinion this was the first filter to hire or fire employees who decided to accept or refuse the BYOD company policy, and the fact of bringing our devices was the first step in being cyber humans.

Other sound failures such as those of Fitbit, Nike FuelBand or Tohsiba Glasses, have created a bad reputation to the still awaited success of the BYOW. If you are one of those who disguise with the technological disasters, here you can read “The biggest wearable tech disasters”.

Let’s be optimistic, the past numerous wearables failures mean nothing. Large enterprises, are using wearables. It’s hard to predict when success will come, but it will happen. Wearables technologies will be adopted in mass in the enterprise world because very soon will be economically and financially profitable. Let´s trust on the component revolution in wearables reported by Techcrunch.

The most connected human on the planet wired up to 700 sensors. Chris Dancy from Denver uses a range of sensors, devices, services and applications to give him real-time data about his body. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96hlHUkxe6c . Chris may be the first case of Human as a Service Business Model.

Augmented workers

Augmented reality (AR) is scaling in industrial settings and wearables are providing the human interface to industrial IoT with new and compelling results. Industry 4.0 presents a unique opportunity for machines and humans to communicate with each other. A combination of technologies at the edge of IoT allows human workers are getting predictive maintenance notifications and alerts for better operations in manufacturing. The convergence of machine sensors, big data, and artificial intelligence tied to AR Smart Glasses will create augmented workers needed for this next industrial revolution.

Augmented patients

Heart rate, ECG, Blood pressure, Blood glucose, body temperature, blood oxygen saturation, etc are vital health signs that have been widely used in the medical field to assess the state of a person’s health. In the past these measurements were typically carried out in a doctor’s office by trained personnel using specialized equipment only when the person visits the doctor’s office.

The novel use of AR, AI, devices and wearables are enabling easy use of devices and wearables by individuals, employees and families to measure all these vital signs anywhere and remotely and securely send data to the healthcare provider.

For years, new companies have been launching new products and services around the concept of Open Data on health and healthcare. And once these healthcare providers have access to this consolidated view of our health they will be able to identify early signs of health risks and preemptively take measures to address the issues. This capability can significantly lower the cost of healthcare for organizations and governments.

If new advancements in technologies (AR / AI / IoT / wearables) are demonstrating that can aid patients and maybe changing the human condition, I wonder why is not growing the number of augmented patients?

Note: Other companies to follow:

Google Glass and Recon Jet in conjunction with VicoVR a Kinect like device allows for skeletal tracking on mobile and wearable devices.

Ceeable is developing a mobile augmented reality (AR) device to aid people with low vision disorders such as age related macular degeneration (AMD), diabetic retinopathy and retinitis pigmentosum.

Profusa have developed tiny wearable biosensors that allows for long-term continuous monitoring of your body chemistry. This wearable smart tech device provides actionable data on your body’s key chemistry in one continuous data stream which changes the way we will monitor our health

Augmented citizens

The city of Boston is collaborating with Waze to use driver data to reduce traffic congestion. Also in Boston, another way the citizen as sensor concept is being used is with Street Bump app. Using sensors in phones to map bumpy road. Armed with this knowledge the city worked with utility companies to fix covers and therefore reduce cost and improve citizen satisfaction.

An increasing number of people are voluntarily contributing the data they generate to improve public spaces. The ‘citizen sensor’ recent trend is not just limited to activists and data enthusiasts — rather, it encompasses regular, everyday citizens empowered by a new generation of connected technologies that makes it easier than ever to contribute their data for the public good.

Citizen sensor data is being used for many purposes including to improve public infrastructure, enhance public services, and increase public safety. Local government leaders look to the ever-increasing number of citizen sensors to augment their capacity to use data to make better decisions.

If we are convinced to share our data and we are on course to wear wearables 2.0 all day, we will become augmented citizens.

Augmented Athletes

In my post “The future of “The Internet of Olympic Games” I predicted that In Tokyo 2020, technology and innovation will be pushing human performance to the limit. Technologies such as wearable technology, Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, virtual reality and Artificial Intelligence are becoming core ingredients of training and preparation for competition. How close are athletes to becoming augmented athletes?

So far the first part of this article. In the second part I will write about whether we could choose to become Cyber Human and when it will happen. Finally, I will describe one day in the life of a Cyber Human.

Thanks for your Likes and Shares.

Archivado en: Artificial Intelligence, Industrial Internet, Internet of Things, Robots Tagged: Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, Robots]]>https://pacomaroto.wordpress.com/2017/05/04/bring-your-own-cyber-human-byoch-part-1-self-connected-humans/feed/0pacomarotoAbout IoT Platforms, Super Powers Methodology, Superheroes and Supervillainshttps://pacomaroto.wordpress.com/2017/04/03/about-iot-platforms-super-powers-methodology-superheroes-and-supervillains/
https://pacomaroto.wordpress.com/2017/04/03/about-iot-platforms-super-powers-methodology-superheroes-and-supervillains/#respondMon, 03 Apr 2017 12:51:18 +0000http://pacomaroto.wordpress.com/?p=594]]>The world is full of normal people like you and me, but I love to think that superheroes live between us and I dream that maybe someday I could become one of them and make a better world with my super powers.

In the universe of superheroes fit gods, mutants, humans with special skills, but also the special agents. I found fun to find similarities between this fantastic world and the world of IoT platforms. Compare and find a reasonable resemblance between IoT Platforms and Superheroes or Super villains is the goal of this article. Opinions as always are personal and subject to all kinds of comments and appreciations. Enjoy, the article.

About IoT Platforms

Many of my regular readers remember my article “It is an IoT Platform, stupid !.”. At that time, per Research and Markets, there were more than 260 IoT platforms, today some sources speak about 700 IoT platforms. I confess, I have not been able to follow the birth, evolution and in some cases death of all IoT platforms out there. I think that many enthusiasts like me also have given up keeping an updated list.

I cannot predict which IoT platforms will survive beyond 2020, or which will be the lucky start-ups that will be bought by big companies or will receive the investors’ mana to become a Unicorn, but I like to speculate, and of course, I have my favourite winners and unlucky losers.

About my Own Methodology

Some reputed analysts have adapted their classification methodologies of IT solutions to put some order and consistency into the chaotic and confusing Internet of Things (IoT) platforms market. But given the moment of business excitement around the IoT, have appeared new analyst firms focused on IoT who also wanted to contribute their bit and at the same time make cash while this unsustainable situation lasts.

After reading numerous reports from various sources on this topic, talking to many IoT platform vendors and seeing endless product demos, I have decided to create my own methodology that includes a questionnaire of near 100 questions around different areas: technical, functional, business, strategy, and a scoring mechanism based on my knowledge and experience to make justified recommendations to my clients.

About Super Powers Methodology

But I also had defined an alternative Methodology based on Super Powers.

Super Heroes and Super Villains usually gain their abilities through several different sources, however these sources can be divided into four categories. The Super Powers methodology is based on these four categories of Power Sources.

Spirit Powers – Powers gained over time through extensive investment, and are easily obtainable by companies without the risk of horrible mutation or disfigurement. PTC Thingworx, Software AG/Cumulocity or Cisco-Jasper are examples.

For each Power Source category, Super Powers are divided into different levels of power that depend on how strong, or unique, their abilities are.

Level 0 – with useless, or minimal abilities.

Level 1 – they are still particularly weak compared to the higher levels.

Level 2 – have developed their powers to a certain point. About 75% of the platforms belong to this class,

Level 3 – Mostly are most commonly amateur heroes or sly villains.

Level 4 – Some of the most unique with a wider variety of powers.

Level 5 – these fellows are seasoned veterans of their abilities, capable of using them without even needing to concentrate.

Level 6 – Only a few beings are classified under this level, and their powers are that of being able to control multiple aspects of IoT reality.

Whatever the source of power was, I add Sandy Carter´s recommendation: If you want to become an Extreme Innovator you also need Super Intelligence, Super Speed and Super Synergy.

About Super Heroes and Super Villains

Previously in “Internet of Things: Angels & Demons” and “Internet of Things – Kings and Servants” , I identified some IoT Platform companies as potential superheroes. What was certain is that we knew who the supervillains were. Governments, organizations and business giants that try to control us, manipulate us and frighten us with their economic, political and military powers.

Deciding which superhero can help you more or what superpower is more important for your business is an extremely important milestone in your IoT Strategy.

I’ve defined the six types/categories of superheroes / IoT Platforms:

a) The superhero whose power is a birthright like Amazon AWS IoT (Superman) or GE Predix (Magneto/Professor Xavier).

b) The superhero whose power is the result of power acquisitions like PTC Thingworx (The Flash) or Cisco Jasper-Parstream (Spiderman) or Autodesk Fusion Connect (FireStorm).

c) The superhero whose power is made possible by technology like Oracle IoT (Iron Man) or SAP Leonardo(Green Lantern).

d) There is the superhero who doesn’t have any superpowers but who is a superhero by extremely intensive training like Batman (Ayla Networks) or Black Widow (Exosite) or LogMeIn-Xively (Hawkeye)

e) The superhero who obtains his/her powers due to some supernatural event like Satya Nadella named new CEO for MSFT IoT Azure (Thor) or Telit DeviceWise (Dr. Manhattan)or Google acquisition of Nest (Hulk)

f) Finally, there is the superhero, usually a sentient android, who was created by a human like IBM Watson IoT (Vision) or a normal human playing with magic like Salesforce IoT Cloud Einstein(Dr Strange) or leader of a young team like Hitachi Data System(Most Excellent Superbat).

“Do you agree with my classification system for superheroes and superpowers?”

Although the number of superheroes and supervillains is enormous (more that the IoT Platforms Universe), it would take me a long time to assign each one of the IoT platform a single superhero or supervillain. Since I do not think many companies are willing to pay to know who represents them better, at least I have done a partial and fun exercise.

The Bottom Line

If you are an IoT Platform vendor, you could be doing yourself some questions right now:

– If I could be a Superhero what would it be?”.

– Worth to acquire a Super Power or reach an upper level to convince customers I am their Superhero?

And remember …

“With power comes responsibility; with great power comes great responsibility”

Although the number of superheroes and supervillains is enormous (more than the IoT Platforms Universe), it would take me a long time to assign each one of the IoT platform a single superhero or supervillain. Since I do not think many companies are willing to pay to know who represents them better, at least I have done a partial and fun exercise.

Thanks for your Likes and Shares.

Archivado en: Internet of Things, M2M, Robots, Security, Smart Cities, Tecnologia Tagged: Internet of Things, IoT, IoT Platforms]]>https://pacomaroto.wordpress.com/2017/04/03/about-iot-platforms-super-powers-methodology-superheroes-and-supervillains/feed/0SuperheroespacomarotoIoT Generalist vs IoT Specialist, Who will survive to the era of Robots?https://pacomaroto.wordpress.com/2017/03/26/iot-generalist-vs-iot-specialist-who-will-survive-to-the-era-of-robots/
https://pacomaroto.wordpress.com/2017/03/26/iot-generalist-vs-iot-specialist-who-will-survive-to-the-era-of-robots/#respondSun, 26 Mar 2017 10:26:24 +0000http://pacomaroto.wordpress.com/?p=580]]>A few weeks ago, when I returned from the MWC and I wrote about “The wandering souls Network”, I wondered if it would not have been better for my career if I had specialized in a very specific area instead of being a generalist. I think there are decisions in our life that in spite every of us can analyse many times, the final decision will be always the same, because each person is the way he is.

Although the rest of this article can possibly be applied to all White Collar professionals, I’m going to focus on how will affect your decision of being an IoT specialist or an IoT generalist in a futuristic world dominate maybe by Robots.

Defining IoT Generalist and IoT Specialist

Before start examining the pros and cons of becoming an IoT generalist or a IoT specialist in this competitive and unfair world, it’s important to understand the distinction of these two approaches and how they relate to our future career path.

The Merriam-Webster dictionary’s simple definition of a generalist states a generalist is “a person who knows something about a lot of subjects”. A specialist is defined as “a person who has special knowledge and skill relating to a particular job, area of study”.

An IoT Generalist is a professional that understand a bit of everything. The IoT Generalist can speak about new business models enabled by IoT, the value of ecosystems, all kind of networks connectivity, protocols, sensors, devices, Gateways, Architecture, Cloud Platforms, Edge Analytics or Predictive Maintenance. And of course, he must be up to date of standards and security. Such a professional should be able to present to C-Level but also to maintain an intelligent conversation with different technical people. A value added of an IoT Generalist is his/her social network reputation, industry expertise recognition and strategic relationship with IoT/IIOT vendors, Telcos, Analyst, System Integrators.

Being an IoT generalist also require a skill-set of project management, effective communication and good people skills.

Do you have anyone in mind?

An IoT Specialist is a professional that is a subject matter expert in at least one of the core IoT tracks. Since the IoT is very complex even though we try to simplify it with concepts such as IoT in a Box, an IoT Specialist should offer at least expertise in one of the following 6 distinct tracks:

But possibly to survive the future era of robots, it may matter little to be an IoT Generalist or Specialist and you will need a mix of a (someone who starts out as a generalist, but also has in-depth knowledge over a particular area) or specializing-generalist (someone who is specialized in a particular field, but also has a broader understanding of other aspects of the business) as Lev Kaye, the founder and CEO of CredSpark, wrote.

Remember that moving between both extremes can be extremely difficult once a career path has been embarked upon, so the mix is always good to have. There is, of course, opportunity to move between general and special IoT roles. But the more experience a professional gain in one area or the other, the more difficult it becomes to make a transition, at least without suffering from a dramatic salary loss.

Advantages and Disadvantages of being an IoT Generalists vs an IoT Specialist

There are benefits and downsides to both career routes. In the following table I have included some upsides and downsides of becoming an IoT generalist versus becoming an IoT specialist.

IoT Generalist

IoT Specialist

Advantages

· Having a good understanding of a wider selection of IoT topics can help make better decisions and find solutions that a specialist might not be able to see.

· In a fast-changing workplace, IoT generalist transferable skills will become increasingly important and will be less restricted with their career opportunities.

· The salaries tend to be higher, even at the starting point and can also provide more internal power.

· You can become a widely recognized leader in your field.

Disadvantages

· By simply knowing the surface you can easily be replaced by another generalist.

· Become a widely recognized leader will require specialization.

· The narrowed focus and expert skills in an area mean IoT Specialist can only find work in this narrow field.

· The opinion on other issues might not be as valid if the topic at hand not involve your area of expertise directly.

“The good news is that IoT job market is likely going to require both”

Age does matter – Which path is right for you?

If you are at the start of your career, you are probably pondering which route you should take: IoT Generalist or IoT Specialist.

When you start, selling yourself as an IoT generalist could be complicate to justify in a job interview, so will be better become a subject matter expert and then progressively move into a specializing-generalist.

My Opinion: If you are under 30 you need to stay on top of your areas of IoT expertise and be willing to move when your expertise becomes a commodity or obsolete. This requires vigilance and the willingness to move with industry trends. You must be aware of disruptive trends in IoT technologies. Take into account that in the future, the IoT Specialists will be also under threat from software and robots.

But if you have already passed the barrier of 45 years and suddenly you want to use your background and experience to sell yourself as an IoT Generalist, remember that you have 6 months to demonstrate your added value (most of the time you will be required for selling) or you will be fired without any leniency.

My Opinion: As an IoT Generalist over 45 you will find harder and harder to get hired. You need to be creative and become at least in spirit an entrepreneur. You must continue creating your own brand and reputation and extending your network with key people in the industry. Opportunities for IoT Generalist will not be forever but they must fight project by project. It would not hurt to start specializing in any of the IoT tracks.

And Enterprise size matters too. What are you looking for?

IoT Startups

Governments insist to sell us the importance of entrepreneurs for the well-being and sustainable development of countries and encourage us to create startups. Of course, there is no work for life except for Government employees. And it is known that the big multinationals are rewarded in stock market by the number of employees that are fired out each quarter.

Even so, startups are possibly the only way out for IoT Specialist under 25 or IoT Generalist over 45.

My Opinion

If you are an IoT Generalist over 45, find a job in IoT startups will be a chimera, except as Sales roles. Launching your own startup with other partners can be a better option.

If you are an IoT Specialist under 25 you can try to convince other colleagues to create a Startup and enter in the dynamic of find investors, win awards and pray for a stroke of luck. If you decide to work in an existing startup to get experience and you are not a Founder or Co-Founder, you must be prepared to be exploited, and then move to a Big company.

SMB (Small and Medium Enterprises)

IoT Generalists add value specially to medium to big international companies. Knowing the details about the complex ecosystem and can handle a vast array of technical concerns is becoming critical for SMBs. There is little need for IoT specialist as there are not enough technical needs in any one specific area to warrant a full-time staff member dedicating themselves to them.

This does not mean that if you are an IoT Specialist you should not try to work for a SMB. Other consideration like industry knowledge, proximity or quality of life will compensate the promises of more money and relevance in Big International companies.

My Opinion:

IoT Generalist over 45 are typically more valued in smaller organizations. Small organizations typically cannot afford to hire a lot of IoT specialists. You will be more valued in smaller organizations who need their employees to wear a lot of hats. In a SMB the transition to a generalizing-specialist will be natural-

If you are an IoT Specialist under 25 and you do not pursue the fame of being a number in a Big international company, you can enjoy more in a SMB because you will have more probability to become more quickly a specializing-generalist.

Big International companies / Top IoT companies

Here we must separate into two types of companies: Top IoT companies including Big IT and OT vendors and End Customers.

There are many lists of Top IoT companies. Almost always these lists include the habitual suspects, and as usual they have notable absences and without forget that the ranks leave much to be desired. But at least such type of list provide the names of companies that either IoT Specialists of IoT Generalists should be searching for a job.

End Customer will need help from both IoT Generalist and IoT Specialist, the question is when and who are them?

My Opinion:

The desire of an IoT Generalist over 45, that used to work on Big Companies, is return to a Top IoT Company or Big Enterprise. Although it would seem easy, it is by no means a road of roses. You must create your own strong personal brand and be a well-known and influencer of the industry.

If you are an IoT Specialist under 25 with experience in startups you will be hunted soon for one of IoT Top vendor. Do not let yourself be blinded by the name of the company, but the project and the future importance of IoT within it.

Looking beyond 2025, the begin of the era of robots

Not because I attend the MWC that specifically caused me to think back on the changes that will occur in the IoT job landscape, it was this conference in addition to the many other IoT events that I attended over the past years that make me think how IoT professionals will be living the strong gravitational rift as we approach to 2025 and beyond.

Unemployment is one of the main problems in today consumer owned society. The unemployment is especially cruel to young people in search of their first job. But also for those who have passed the barrier of 45 (IF $your age is >45 THEN “sorry you are overqualified”).

When I wrote “Your job will be in our special metal hands” I imagined a near future in which companies will use Recruitment Robots to search, identify, select and manage candidates and employees more efficiently. Although it is crucial you follow your heart and your passion when making the decision you should consider the requirements of future employers will be robots.

If today, what matters is knowing a little of everything in the Internet of Things, an IoT Generalist, cross-trained and energetic. Fast forward a few years, and the IoT profession will took a different turn. IoT Specialists must emerge, particularly in larger organizations. IoT Specialist should also be aware of the way IoT jobs will change. Several traditional IoT specialist jobs today will be facing the threat of automatization and will not have an easy time beyond 2025.

THE BOTTOM LINE

When deciding between IoT generalist and IoT specialist career paths, you need to carefully consider the type of person you are. Ultimately, the advantages and disadvantages of either path depend on your personality and drive. If you work hard towards achieving your career goals, you can do so as an IoT specialist and as an IoT generalist and remember you need to be passionate and your attitude will matter today and beyond 2025.

IoT Specialist or IoT Generalist? Choose your own destiny.

Thanks for your Comments and Likes

Archivado en: Industrial Internet, Internet of Things, M2M, Robots, Smart Cities, Tecnologia Tagged: Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, IoT, Robots]]>https://pacomaroto.wordpress.com/2017/03/26/iot-generalist-vs-iot-specialist-who-will-survive-to-the-era-of-robots/feed/0pacomarotoIs Blockchain the silver bullet needed by the IoT industry?https://pacomaroto.wordpress.com/2017/02/13/is-blockchain-the-silver-bullet-needed-by-the-iot-industry/
https://pacomaroto.wordpress.com/2017/02/13/is-blockchain-the-silver-bullet-needed-by-the-iot-industry/#respondMon, 13 Feb 2017 13:59:32 +0000http://pacomaroto.wordpress.com/?p=567]]>It was a matter of time to end up writing an article to talk about the connection between Internet of Things (IoT) and the technology (arguably still in the infancy of its development) that may have the greatest power to transform our world, Blockchain.

In a future planet interconnected not just by devices, but by the events taking place across it, with billions of devices talking to one another in real time, the Internet of Things will require a secure and efficient way to track all interactions, transactions, and activities of every “thing” in the network.

Blockchain’s role could be a coordination layer across devices and the enabler of the IoT to securely facilitate interactions and transactions between devices, and may also support certain processes related to architecture scalability, data sharing, and advancements in encryption and private key technology, enhanced security, and potentially even privacy.

With blockchain, the Achilles’ heel of the IoT of heterogeneous OEM devices world now becomes viable. I wonder however, if is feasible that this decentralized IoT network may co-exist IoT sub-networks or centralized cloud based IoT models.

But let’s face it, blockchain is still a nascent and controversial technology (experts estimate that it might take 5 -10 years for the mainstream adoption of blockchain technologies). Therefore, we must consider that blockchain’s applications within the Internet of Things is still a matter of conjecture and trial, and that it will take more time to determine whether and how blockchain might be implemented to secure IoT ecosystems.

What is Blockchain?

Blockchain, the technology that constitutes the backbone of the famous bitcoin, is a database that maintains a continuously growing set of data records. It is distributed in nature, meaning that there is no master computer holding the entire chain. Rather, the participating nodes have a copy of the chain. It’s also ever-growing — data records are only added to the chain.

A blockchain consists of two types of elements:

Transactions are the actions created by the participants in the system.

Blocks record these transactions and make sure they are in the correct sequence and have not been tampered with. Blocks also record a time stamp when the transactions were added.

Fascinating opportunities ahead with IoT and Blockchain

The possibilities of IoT are virtually countless, especially when the power of IoT is combined with that of other technologies, such as machine learning. But some major hurdles will surface as billions of smart devices will want to interact among themselves and with their owners.

Applying the blockchain concept to the world of IoT offers fascinating possibilities. Is yet to be seen if blockchain is bound to expedite the revolution, simply by being the backbone for most of the future IoT systems.

An example – Right from the time a product completes final assembly, it can be registered by the manufacturer into a universal blockchain representing its beginning of life. Once sold, a dealer or end customer can register it to a regional blockchain (a community, city or state). But, this is only the beginning for the blockchain and Internet of Things (IoT). A washing machine could become a semi-autonomous device capable of managing its own consumables supply. It can perform self-service and maintenance, and even negotiating with other peer devices.

Challenges of Blockchain and IoT ecosystems

The chaotic growth of IoT will introduce several challenges, including identifying, connecting, securing, and managing so many devices. It will be very challenging for the current infrastructure and architecture underlying the Internet and online services to support huge IoT ecosystems of the future.

According with the report, the result of multiple surveys indicates that what the IoT requires more than any technological or architectural advancement is trust: trust between stakeholders and the devices interacting with them, their customers, or on their behalf.

“As technology and commercial firms look for ways to deploy and secure Internet of Things technologies at scale, blockchain has emerged as a clear favorite for managing issues like identity and transaction security”.

Blockchain, a strategic ally to Democratize the IoT

The big advantage of blockchain is that it’s public, so there is no single authority that can approve the transactions or set specific rules to have transactions accepted. Thus, the primary utility the blockchain is a censorship resistant way to exchange value without intermediaries.

Are IoT Business Models at risks with Blockchain?

IoT Service Providers hope not. There is a risk that the combo of blockchain and the sharing economy trashes some new IoT business models. Same way that, successful or not as successful platform, companies like Uber and Airbnb, are worried today.

Just think, the success of these and some other platform companies is largely due to people trading assets they own and are paid for, but from which new value could be derived, And they release this value by using platforms to match up sellers of the extra capacity – whatever it may be – with buyers. Further, they collect data about transactions “for further commercial gain”.

Indeed, arguably many of new IoT companies’ main line of business will be data, but, what if blockchain enabled buyers and sellers to work peer-to-peer and cut out the middleman/data aggregator and seller? In that case the secure connectivity could be king not the data.

A question for IoT Platform vendors, if we have a secure, foolproof decentralized system, why do I need your IoT Platform if I and all the communities I belong to can do it for ourselves, without anybody collecting, analysing and selling data about me?

The convergence of Blockchain and the Internet of Things closer

A blockchain technology industry consortium is emerging from the meeting, New Horizons: Blockchain x IoT Summit, with the objective of defining the scope and implementation of a smart contracts protocol layer across several major blockchain systems.

In December 2016, representatives from a group of industry-leading startups and innovative Fortune 500 companies met in Berkeley, CA to discuss the challenges facing blockchain and IoT innovation and the potential for a collective effort to address them. The meeting was the first step towards a collaborative effort to explore and build a shared blockchain-based Internet of Things protocol. Participants in the discussions included blockchain companies Ambisafe, BitSE, Chronicled, ConsenSys, Distributed, Filament, Hashed Health, Ledger, Skuchain, and Slock.it, along with Fortune 500 corporations BNY Mellon, Bosch, Cisco, Gemalto, and Foxconn.

Who is using Blockchain in IoT

The IoT and blockchain combination is already gaining momentum, and is being endorsed by both startups and tech giants. Several companies are already putting blockchain to use to power IoT networks.

Filament, a startup that provides IoT hardware and software for industrial applications such as agriculture, manufacturing, and oil and gas industries. Filament’s wireless sensors, called Taps, create low-power autonomous mesh networks that enable enterprise companies to manage physical mining operations or water flows over agricultural fields without relying on centralized cloud alternatives. Device identification and intercommunication is secured by a bitcoin blockchain that holds the unique identity of each participating node in the network.

Telstra, Australian telecommunication giant Telstra is another company leveraging blockchain technology to secure smart home IoT ecosystems. Cryptographic hashes of device firmware are stored on a private blockchain to minimize verification time and obtain real-time tamper resistance and tamper detection. Since most smart home devices are controlled through mobile apps, Telstra further expands the model and adds user biometric information to the blockchain hashes in order to tie in user identity and prevent compromised mobile devices from taking over the network. This way, the blockchain will be able to verify both the identity of IoT devices and the identity of the people interacting with those devices.

IBM, allows to extend (private) blockchain into cognitive Internet of Things. To illustrate the benefits of blockchain and Internet of Things convergence, IBM gives the example of complex trade lanes and logistics whereby smart contracts can follow (and via blockchain technology register), everything that has happened to individual items and packages. The benefits: audit trails, accountability, new forms of contracts and speed, to name a few.

IBM and Samsung introduced their proof-of-concept system, ADEPT, which uses blockchain to support next-generation IoT ecosystems that will generate hundreds of billions of transactions per day.

Onename are creating the infrastructure for blockchain based identities that can be used for humans and machines. This means the blockchain can act like a phone book that lets machines find each other.

Tierion is being used to collect data from industrial medical devices to build a verifiable record of their usage and maintenance history. Tierion is thrilled to be the first partner to join Philips’ Blockchain Lab. Together they are exploring how blockchain technology can be used in healthcare.

ConsenSys working with Innogy (a subsidiary of German utility RWE) are exploring how to enable an energy marketplace fed by distributed solar and other electricity-generating devices, which are run using a decentralized power grid.

21.co, Microsoft, Slock.it, and others are working directly with adopters in manufacturing, supply chain management, energy and utilities, agriculture, and construction; distributed ledgers may further automate, secure, and drive new services for these industries.

Blockchain is not the unique silver bullet for IoT security

Given the importance that Security has to fulfil the promise of the Internet of Things (IoT), I wrote “Do not stop asking for security in IoT” although I did not talk about how blockchain can help secure the Internet of Things. Now with this post, I hope I have corrected that gap.

The existing security technologies will play a role in mitigating IoT risks but they are not enough. Cryptographic algorithms used by blockchain technologies could perhaps be a silver bullet needed by the IoT industry to create a more resilient ecosystem for devices to run on and to make consumer data more private. But blockchain should not be viewed as the unique silver bullet to all IoT security issues considering that today’s blockchain space is even more nascent than the IoT.

Manufacturers, legislators, IoT hardware and software vendors, IoT Service Providers, System Integrators, analyst, and end users, must be aware of the IoT security challenges and focus on increase security efforts to reduce the risk inherent to the fragmented Internet of Things so among all we can accelerate adoption.

In the long term, we should keep dreaming in a fully decentralized and secure IoT using a standardized secure communication model. We must trust this dream will be possible, if worldwide, engineering talent, startups, large companies, and governments increase the investment in time, energy, and money to innovate in solutions that address the IoT’s and blockchain’s shared problems.

Thanks for your Likes and Shares

Archivado en: Artificial Intelligence, Industrial Internet, Internet of Things, M2M, Robots, Security, Smart Cities, Tecnologia, Wearables Tagged: Blockchain, Internet of Things, IoT, IoT Platforms]]>https://pacomaroto.wordpress.com/2017/02/13/is-blockchain-the-silver-bullet-needed-by-the-iot-industry/feed/0pacomarotoInternet of Things in a Box (IoT in a Box)https://pacomaroto.wordpress.com/2017/01/22/internet-of-things-in-a-box-iot-in-a-box/
https://pacomaroto.wordpress.com/2017/01/22/internet-of-things-in-a-box-iot-in-a-box/#respondSun, 22 Jan 2017 14:10:37 +0000http://pacomaroto.wordpress.com/?p=557]]>A few years ago, the idea of a “Telco in a Box” was very usual among the Telecommunication industry. Basically, it was a pre-integrated, turnkey real-time billing and customer care solution that enabled communications service providers (CSPs) to accelerate their growth strategies and increase profitability.

Companies like Accenture, Oracle, Redknee or Tech Mahindra used this concept addressed to Mobile Virtual Network Operators or MVNOs, Tier 3 Operators and Tier 1 sub brands. The benefits of this solution were clear:

A low-risk, quick to launch turnkey solution

Go to market faster than competitors

It was a matter of time that this marketing slogan reached the Internet of Things (IoT). And so it has been, at the moment with little noise, but it is certain that we will see much more “IoT in a Box” in the next months.

turn on your modules. As soon as you activate a module, it starts to send sensor data, and you can start monitoring your things in near-time – online or using the mobile app.

“The concept behind a basic “IoT in a box” is that It takes you less than 1 hour to set up your own IoT system.”

In the second case, the IoT in a Box must include a Development Kit and all required building blocks to develop a wireless IoT system. We will see some examples later.

What if I want to expand the capabilities of my IoT application?

Although IoT in a Box is aimed at solving a simple business need, in certain scenarios or industries it may be necessary to extend the capabilities included in the Box. In this regard, vendors must provide accessories, expansion modules, I/Os and peripherals, Multi-standard connectivity options and additional Pre-configured dashboards and alerts depending of the industry and application.

Selling IoT in a Box

When I wrote Welcome to the first “Selling IoT” Master Class!, I did not emphasize in selling IoT to Small and Medium Business (SMB) and Consumer market. Precisely, the main objective that vendors pursue with the “IoT in a box” is increase sales in SMB market. This is a huge market and vendors need a way to escalate by channel partners, but as I do not consider myself an expert selling to SMB, so I look forward for your advices.

Is IoT in a Box already in the market?

Due to confidentiality agreements, I cannot include info from different vendors that will be selling IoT in a Box very soon. But we can find already some examples of IoT in a Box in the market. See below some of them based on public information.

T- Mobile IoT in a Box – With the T-Mobile IoT Box, you can realize your individual M2M application without great effort. Connect your devices and sensors and transfer the obtained data to a cloud system via mobile radio. A data interface provides processing and integration information to other systems, websites, or apps. The T-Mobile IoT Box consists of a developer board with an integrated M2M SIM card, several inputs / outputs and Bluetooth smart interface, an online portal and a RESTful API.

Telia M2M in a Box – M2M technology easy and affordable for any business. Telia M2M in a Box gives you a set of hardware with sensors providing you with real time information about position, movement and climate, which you can monitor directly in the web portal. A versatile and user-friendly measurement tool to observe, monitor and protect your business remotely.

Capgemini IoT-in-a-Box is a rapid, low-cost, low-risk, method to pilot IoT strategy to test and define business cases and provides a pre-configured, enterprise-ready IoT system for monitoring up to 25 devices. It simplifies the task of aligning integrating and configuring all IoT components to provide rapid time to value.

Microsoft – Solair IoT in a Box was an IoT plug&play kit to connect things, sensors, machines to a gateway and then, in a few clicks, instantly visualize data on the Solair application. After acquisition of Solair probably Microsoft had discontinued this offer.

Creator Ci40 IoT Developer Kit – The Creator Ci40 board is a high-performance, low-power microcomputer that packs a cXT200 chip based on a subsystem optimized by us specifically for IoT applications. The cXT200 SoC includes a dual-core, dual-threaded MIPS CPU clocked at 550 MHz and an Ensigma connectivity engine that covers super-fast 802.11ac 2×2 MIMO Wi-Fi and low-power Bluetooth/Bluetooth low energy (Classic and Smart).

Nextcloud Box – a private cloud and IoT solution for home users – from Nextcloud, Canonical and WDLabs. Nextcloud Box makes hosting a personal cloud simple and cost effective whilst maintaining a secure private environment that can be expanded with additional features via apps. The Nextcloud Box consists of a hard drive and a case, complemented by a Raspberry Pi 2 or a similar credit-card sized computer. The pre-configured, easy-to-use platform handles file storage and syncing, communication and more, requires no maintenance and enables users to install more functionality through apps like Spreed, OpenHab and Collabora Online. The box offers 1TB of storage at the price point of Eur 70. For information on where to buy please visit nextcloud.com/box.

WIKON – My M2M BOX – Our special expertise lies in the compliance with industrial standards for our product developments and the development of powerful embedded hardware and software. Special developments for explosion zones, adverse environmental conditions, IP-68 standards and extended temperature ranges are frequently in demand.

There are many IoT Vendors who offer Devices, IoT platform, Apps and Services bundled with the same purpose of IoT in a Box, democratize the IoT.

IoT in a Box and IoT Marketplaces

As we know “IoT is not only about connecting things, neither controlling things”, it is about the Things become more intelligent and therefore companies could offer new services under new business models. I believe that IoT marketplaces will play a key role in the evolution of IoT in a box. We have already some examples:

Libelium, the IoT Marketplace is a one stop click-and-buy online store. The company is helping frustrated companies with pre-integrated solutions from choosing the right hardware, cloud components to application.

Telus IoT Marketplace – Connect the things that matter to your business by leveraging connected devices provided by their partner network.

ThingWorks Marketplace – gives easy access to everything you need to build and run your ThingWorx based IoT application. All components listed on the ThingWorx Marketplace are customized, tested and guaranteed to work with the ThingWorx platform.

“IoT in a Box solutions that encompass infrastructure, networking, analytics, service enablement and monetization to connect devices, expose data, services and processes to applications, consumers and machines will be the foundation for IoT marketplaces”.

IoT Service in a Box, the logical evolution of IoT in a Box

I believe that the logical evolution of IoT in a Box will be IoT Service in a Box sold through IoT marketplaces. It is a matter of time that we will see:

During the last three years, I have had the opportunity to discover, know and analyse more than 50 Spanish companies in the exciting sector of the Internet of Things (IoT).

Some of these companies are globally recognized as pioneers of IoT. Others less known but very innovative, with great talent in their ranks. All of them have been weathering the storm and far from being discouraged, because the reality is being tougher than all the hype announced by analysts, are more excited than ever before future expectations.

As I wrote in my post “5 PROVERBS TO SAVE MY STARTUP”, nobody is a prophet in their land, but even so, I can not resist providing a few tips that I believe can help us use IoT as an enabler that drives the ICT sector. Would not it be fantastic if we finally met our desire to have a strong, dynamic, competitive and innovative ICT sector in our society?

Accept reality

And the stark reality is: “Spain is not a technological country, it is a service country“. I think that the lapidary expression of Miguel de Unamuno, that “they invent it”, also applies to the IoT. But it is one thing not to invent and another is to become sellers of products, solutions or services of multinationals by all known.

We must use our ingenuity, talent, creativity, and customer orientation to design and develop quality, easy-to-use global IoT solutions.

If we are good sellers of foreign products, the language should be the problem. Our objective market should not be our City, our Community or our Country, our market must be the world.

Focus, Focus and Focus

I have insisted on many forums that in Spain we can not do everything on IoT. For example, we can be leaders in Smart Cities, but we will have little chance of success in Connected Cars, we must fight to find a gap in Industry 4.0 (also known as Industrial Internet or IIOT) but I fear we will not be number 1 in Wearables, although we could be innovative in Health services.

We must analyse our strengths and weaknesses to recognize where our opportunities are and what our threats are. Let us be references in our focus areas.

Trusted Ecosystems

We know that there is not a single company in the world that can do everything in IoT, much less leading the IoT, so it is obvious that our companies and Startups have no other choice than to create or be part of reliable ecosystems and Collaborative projects in the focus areas to meet the challenges posed by IoT projects.

We must design new sustainable business models with our local partners, it is time to trust if we want to survive in this competitive and fragmented sector until the magic 2020.

It’s time to real collaboration, put a logo on our presentations and our website is absurd if there is something else behind.

Specialization

Given the size of IoT Spanish companies it is not possible to do everything and get it right.

Scalability

To succeed in IoT, Spanish companies must be able to offer global and scalable solutions. We will need startup talent to focus on companies of a larger size than without giving up innovation and agility, being able to cope with large national and international IoT projects.

Expect to be outsourced by other subcontractors of a company that works for an end customer is not acceptable if we really want to change. It is a pending subject of our business model not only in technology, it is a deep-seated problem of corporate culture.

We should be able to have at least one unicorn in IoT. And I’m not talking about Telefonica, Banco Santander, BBVA, Iberdrola, Inditex, ACS, Ferrovial or Indra, but a company that provides a new IoTaaS model based on our strengths (which all or almost all know) Services and HW / SW IoT products from Spanish manufacturers. That is, we must think about having our Uber, Airbnb or why not our Spanish Tesla.

We must look for concentration of companies in the focus areas to achieve the size that allows the scalability that the IoT business needs.

Invest in Education and Training

The IoT is complex, although many try to make it simple. We will need many types of profiles and not just theoretical knowledge.

It is vital at both, the private and public levels, that the Public Administrations and Companies dedicate funds to continuously educate students and train employees in the IoT technologies.

“Investing now in IoT training will be key to ensuring a sustainable future for our companies, our country and our professionals.”

Start Now

This advice goes to both Enterprises and Public Administrations.

In the case of Enterprises, it would be highly desirable to lose for once the fear of being the first to implement technology solutions. You must consider IoT a key element in the digitization process of your company.

Public Administrations, stop using your budgets as always, and think about investing in a more sustainable, intelligent and connected citizen.

To conclude, pulling on the proverb I think:

“We have the wicker, so we must have confidence that we can make a great basket in IoT”.

Good Bye 2016

We can say that 2016 was an even bigger year for Internet of Things (IoT), something that is not particularly special. The year had bring good Internet of Things stories, and news, but we are far to reach the expectations.

I believe that Gartner has fails and the IoT industry has not explode in 2016.

I did not see that Millennials has accelerated Internet of Things action as IDC predicted.

Neither 2016, was the critical year for defining the LPWA networks and connectivity that Machina Research now part of Gartner anticipated.

Sorry Vodafone, IoT has not been vital to the customer experience.

While larger companies such as Cisco Systems, Dell Technologies, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Intel are making deep investments in IoT products, new startups such as Samsara, Monnit and others are doubling down on the space as well.

The barriers for IoT adoption have been many and well known. IoT not yet ready for mass deployment, says IDTechEx. Benchmarking study concludes that many pre-requisites for mass adoption of Internet of Things are not yet in place and market will scale up at a slower rate than predicted.

But enough of sticking to the good of the IoT wizards. Let’s review what the fortune tellers say is waiting for us in 2017.

What will be of IoT in 2017?

First things first, here are some of the links with the predictions for 2017 that I’ve collected so far.

Morgan Stanley: 2017 The Year Of Internet Of Things –We at are an inflection point for the development and adoption of IoT technology, that’s the main takeaway from a new report on the Internet of Thing industry from Morgan Stanley published last week. The IoT market has moved on significantly over the past 12 months. This time last year there was much hype surrounding the technology, although many speculated it would be years before the public widely adapted IoT devices. However, per Morgan Stanley’s research, almost the entire semiconductor industry is preparing for the manufacture and introduction of IoT devices and related hardware to the market.

Internet of Things Institute – 11 IoT Predictions for 2017 – Prediction 3 “Recruiting Will Remain a Challenge for Organizations with IoT Initiatives”. Is really a prediction?. In 2017, we will see a growing number of consumer-facing connected products that use connectivity to solve real problems. And more predictions in the same web What’s in Store for IoT Security in 2017

CEOs will ‘exit’ at least 30% of chief marketing officers for not mustering the blended skill set needed to drive digital business transformation, design exceptional personalize experiences and propel growth

There will be a doubling of business-head turnover as CEOs come to terms with what’s needed to propel their company forward in a customer-led, digital-centric business

There also are some downsides predicted for next year.

For example, a Fortune 1000 company will fail because of a cyberbreach, more than 500,000 Iot devices will be compromised and national security risks will drive agencies to expand surveillance technologies, creating legal and ethical conflicts between governments and people.

The Internet of Things and big data technologies have progressed enormously in 2016 – and 2017 is set to be a year when more enterprise use cases come to fruition. We will see More augmented reality-based products, Greater consolidation in the IoT market. 2017 will be a “team-building year”.

The Internet of Things architect role will eclipse the data scientist as the most valuable unicorn for HR departments. The surge in IoT will produce a surge in edge computing and IoT operational design. Thousands of resumes will be updated overnight.

Smartphones may also be key to IoT beyond the remote control paradigm. As two in five advanced internet users believe their phones will soon learn what we do and perform activities for us automatically, smartphones could soon interact with a wealth of other devices on our behalf.

In 2017, IT leaders will look to take the next important step in IoT—automating the onboarding and security processes for all devices needing network access (whether they are IoT, BYOD or guest devices) to provide a better user experience while safeguarding network security (Alan Ni, Director of Vertical Marketing, Aruba (an HPE company).

IoT architectures will continue to push data analytics to the devices whenever possible, greatly reducing the amount of data sent upstream and minimizing the load on the network infrastructure. (Mike Krell, Lead IoT Analyst, Moor Insights & Strategy).

Pentaho – IoT systems will evolve in 2017 to help businesses prosper during uncertain times in five ways. Self-service data prep will unlock big data’s full value; organizations will replace self-service reporting with embedded analytics; IoT’s adoption and convergence with big data will make automated data onboarding a requirement; – Quentin Gallivan, CEO of Pentaho

o Threats against SCADA systems will also become more widespread, as SCADA providers continue to move towards TCP/IP as protocol of choice within their networks and the decreasing cost of chips leads to ever “smarter” (and thus easier to exploit) industrial process controllers and sensors.

o Targeted attacks, possibly targeting corporations public cloud presence, will also be on the increase in 2017, as threat actors ranging from nation states to industrial espionage outfits to activist NGOs will seek to exploit the security weaknesses in organizations.

o Darknets and the associated markets in illegal materials and services (cyber-crime tools included) represent an emergent problem, which will probably rise again to mainstream attention during 2017 . The highly successful (and thus highly centralized) Silk Road market has been crushed by law enforcement, but a myriad TOR-ified or otherwise hidden specialized markets have sprouted in its stead, and are expected to continue growing to the point of becoming again a global problem.

Top 10 IoT 2017 wishes from my side

For the first time, I will dare to write not my own predictions, but my wishes Here they go:

The End of the free IoT of Pilots and PoCs. – After years of abuse, IoT Consultants and IoT vendors do not accept to implement free Pilots/Proof of Concepts.

For the first time the number of IoT platforms will shrink and some key vendors will offer a Cloud/Edge application enablement. In 2017 many IoT platform vendors will work on exit strategies.

We will continue living in a world of IoT Subnets but IoT Gateway vendors will design equipment to easy integrate LoRA, NB-IoT, SigFox, Ingenu and 3G networks.

Alarming Increment of attacks and new IoT threats will make Governments finally to act. – Hackers are so excited about demonstrating IoT vulnerabilities that they will attack all kinds of connected systems and products.

Machines will design the new protocol for M2M using Machine Learning algorithms –The protocol will become the standard in 10 years.

Disillusionment with Connected Car, the Driverless Cars and Smart Homes will continue in 2017. Lack of standards and network infrastructure and we cannot forget that most people likes to drive.

We will read some finally success stories about how wearables and augmented / virtual reality positively affect productivity and healthcare.

Growth of the Internet of Things and Robots in digital marketing.

Small and Medium Enterprises will begin to adopt simple IoT solutions

Mergers and Acquisitions in IoT will continue, the interest will be in companies with vertical industry knowledge/ references and less in technology.

“I know I left a lot of wishes, but I can not overcharge Santa Claus. Merry Christmas.”

Thanks, in advance for your Likes and Shares

Thoughts ? Comments ?

Archivado en: Artificial Intelligence, Industrial Internet, Internet of Things, M2M, Robots, Security, Smart Cities, Tecnologia, Wearables Tagged: Internet of Things, IoT, IoT Networks, IoT Platforms]]>https://pacomaroto.wordpress.com/2016/12/13/will-finally-be-2017-the-year-of-internet-of-things-i-do-not-think-so/feed/0pacomarotoIf a robot is going to take my job, should it pay my taxes?https://pacomaroto.wordpress.com/2016/11/20/should-i-be-worried-about-my-robots-taxes/
https://pacomaroto.wordpress.com/2016/11/20/should-i-be-worried-about-my-robots-taxes/#respondSun, 20 Nov 2016 10:05:55 +0000http://pacomaroto.wordpress.com/?p=534]]>According with OECD, since 1967, the share of men ages 25 to 54 without work has more than tripled, from 5 percent to 16 percent. But the reasons they’re not working have less to do with the rise of the machines than we’re being led to believe. Not only will machines compete for positions, but global population growth and a rather stunted job market will make competition all the more fierce.

But, in spite there are many surveys that help explain causes for the decline in labor participation, during the last years the debate over how Robots will replace our White Collar Jobs has increased and is provoking opposing reactions that can become violent.

Is a guaranteed income the solution? Which side are you ?

There are arguments that believe that the solution is to have a guaranteed income that incentivizes education and result in more entrepreneurship. Is this incentive enough for IoT entrepreneurs start businesses? The problem with these types of businesses you can start today is it’s hard to put enough together to generate a middle-class income.

In the other hand, we found many others saying that having a guaranteed income will turn everyone into a slacker and destroy the economy.

Don’t Tax Humans — Tax the Robots

A robot can work 24/7, excluding time allocated for repairs and maintenance, and doesn’t need time off. Multinational corporations that utilize robots at a particular location generally will pay less income tax compared with other locations that do not utilize robots to the same extent.

It certainly surprised me to read don’t tax humans any more at all. “Humans are here to enjoy our lives; robots are here to serve us. As a society and as a species we’ve built infrastructure, machines, and computers to do our bidding”.

Here are three ways the author suggests to shift the tax burden to robots:

Robotic Gains Tax – A “Capital Gains Tax” is basically the same as a Robot Gains Tax. If a legion of robots last year created 10,000 widgets and this year makes 20,000 widgets, the “Capital Gains” would be 10,000 widgets.

Robotic Corporate Taxes – Robots are largely owned by corporations, not by individuals or families. Hence a corporate tax is essentially a tax on the automated algorithms and robots owned by that corporation. Unfortunately a corporate tax rate is also seen as a “tax on rich people” when it is really a tax on robots. It has been falling for the past few decades.

Robot Financial Sales Tax – When humans buy clothes, groceries, gas, etc they pay sales tax, but when a high frequency trading algorithm buys and sells a trillion shares of stock A or B in one day, it pays nothing. This is sheer insanity. Today all business is based on technology, the sale and purchase of stock is an expression of the value of the robots and algorithms that largely run and do the work of a company. It makes sense we should have a sales tax on stocks, bonds, and fancy ‘exotic’ derivatives that these robots are slinging around every day.

The European Union concerns – EU moves to Tax Robots as “Electronic Persons”

If robots are going to steal human jobs and otherwise disrupt society, they should at the very least pay taxes. That’s the takeaway from a draft report on robotics produced by the European Parliament, which warns that artificial intelligence and increased automation present legal and ethical challenges that could have dire consequences.

European Parliament consider “that at least the most sophisticated autonomous robots could be established as having the status of electronic persons with specific rights and obligations.” This would saddle corporations with the responsibility of paying social security for their robots, just as they would human workers.

Under the EU plans, bosses would be required to pay social security on their robot workers’ behalf, as well as adhere to new taxation rules and legal liability frameworks. The robots aren’t going to have any money so we obviously cannot tax them. So, what is being said here is that companies which employ robots should be charged higher taxes for doing so.

It’s notable that one of the few parts of Europe to protest this move is the one that’s doing best out of automated manufacturing. Is this nonsense?

It seems contradictory to me that EU is promoting tax benefits for companies investing in robots to automate factories (less human jobs) and they want to these robots pay taxes to compensate the loss of jobs.

It’s not man vs. machine yet

Robots will certainly take many blue collar and white collar jobs, but If machines can do all the work or even 50 per cent of the jobs that we used to do, what will humans do?

The risk we are facing in the near future is mass unemployment for some categories of workers, combined with lack of skills in other categories – and the political and social implications of such imbalances.

It is not enough that our governments create policies to make sure people are educated, trained, and ready for the new jobs being created. Society needs to confront this question before human labor becomes obsolete.

Instead of wringing our hands and blaming technology, we should be rolling up our sleeves to ensure that people who lose their jobs to technology are being retrained. This also requires patience — recognizing that it will take time for these workers to be reemployed in higher-skilled jobs.